Here's the situation. Around the same time as a scuffle on the beach (involving putting a beached sea serpent back in the water) the princess went missing.

The players are being interviewed by the queen to determine if anyone can identify her as having been in a group that was possibly being lead away to become victims of sex trafficking.

The questions follow the pattern of who are you, how did you come to be in my city, and did you see this underage girl on stage dancing in the wet t-shirt contest?

So far only one player (lets call her Sunny) has positively identified the princess.Player 2, identified as T, noticed an underage girl, but did not recognize her as the princess. He thought it more important to try and rescue her than to identify her.

Players 3 and 4, known as Sean and Dam, legitimately didn't see anything. They were at the wrong angle to view the stage.

Now we get to player 5, who we will call Stew. When asked the same question as the other players Stew just starts blabbering nonsense. I'll copy and paste it for you here so you can see what I'm dealing with.

STEW - "Names Slewfoot and my parents were ashamed of and penned me up in a cave. So I escaped and Rove around from town to town. Earning my keep with my hands. I prefer the company of animals normally due to the treatment I usually get from most towns and peoples. This town seems no except for Mr. T. As for the dancing fiasco it just seemed the right thing to do to help the young girl. As per nessie the sea serpent helping her was a pleasure."

GM - "The Queen says, Your parents locked you in a cave because they were so ashamed of you? What could you have possibly done to deserve such treatment?"

STEW - "Stew turns his steely grey eyes toward her then looks back toward the ground. In the earlier days of my life there was a legend of a unicorn born of two earth ponies that would change the world. When I was old enough to be tested they found out I have no such magic at all and my lockup began. The only hint I have had ever is one word calypso.I do not know what it means.but my only friend the mole who tunneled into my room showed me the way out and so I roam a vagabond homeless living by my hands. I have tried to rid myself of this hideous horn twice by cutting it off and slamming a door on it. I only succeeded in a week long coma. So ends my sorry short life . I am ready for lockup or the usual punishment I usually receiveSays Slewfoot still looking at the ground."

GM - "The Queen rises from her chair and crosses to a nearby wall. She reaches out and pulls one of several different colored cords hanging there before returning to her seat. Moments later two enormous earth ponies enter the room. The Queen orders the two to fetch the palace physician and court wizard and return at once. She turns again to Slewfoot, a look of heartbreak and pity covers her face. "Mr. Slewfooot, we cannot adequately express our sympathy for the mistreatment you have suffered. It pains us to inform you that you are not the prophesied Calypso. In fact, The Prophecy of Calypso is a hoax perpetrated by deceitful, malicious, fraudulent ponies to prey upon the ..easily influenced and rob them of their bits. Many years ago, under the rule of my grandparents, steps were taken to rid our Kingdom of what was a growing cult. I had not heard any mention of them being active during my parents reign, or my own until meeting you today. Truthfully, we thought them all wiped out or banished. We are ashamed that such wicked ponies still operate within our borders and will do our best to see that no one else suffers because of them."

As she finishes speaking the door to the conference room opens again as the two twin earth ponies usher in a very sleepy looking pair of unicorns, one in a wrinkled lab coat the other in an ostentatious maroon robe, pointy wide brimmed hat, and pink bunny slippers.

The Queen says, "Please allow me to present Dr. Sawbones and Solinarri Silverhoof, palace physician and wizard respectively."To the two beleaguered unicorns, "Gentlecolts, We wish for you to do a speedy examination of Mr. Slewfoot. He has suffered a grave mistreatment and we wish to know the status of his health and his capability for magical or psionic abilities."GM - ((( Stew, I'm gonna give you a bit here before the Dr.'s results or moving to the next scene)))

STEW - "Slewfoot eyes the new arrivals extremely not trusting.trembling in extreme fear.Am I to be executed.doctors execute ponies."((( okay he's playing against his backstory. he was mistreated as a child and now he's afraid of the doctor. Okay I can roll with this)))

DAM - "Dam speaks up, "Can't you see you are scaring him!" as he steps forward to move in between Slewfoot and the others approaching."

STEW- "Slewfoot continues to look for ways to escape clearly remembering the hellish trials the "doctors" his "parents" took him to."

GM - "The Queen stands up, clearly shocked by Slewfoot's question, "What?! No of course not. Doctor, Magus, Mr. Colt, all of you please take a seat," she says.She returns to her seat and speaks gently to Slewfoot, "We did not wish to cause you alarm. You spoke of being locked in a cave, trying to break off your own horn, being homeless as you roam from town to town, and being beaten by other ponies. To think that any pony would treat another so harshly breaks our heart. We sent for Doctor Sawbones and Magus Silverhoof to check if your hardships may have had a negative impact on your health. It is our solemn promise to you as Queen of Wavestead that neither of these ponies mean to execute you or do you any harm. Please, would you allow them to perform a simple examination?"

(To Dam Colt) "Mr. Colt, it would serve you well to remember where you are and to whom you speak. While we admire your willingness to come to the defense of a pony you have just met, We Will Not Tolerate Further Outbursts. Is This Understood," she asks sternly?

DAM COLT - ""No, it doesnt seem clear at all, your highness..." Dam responds."((( okay the team is starting to come together where the players are sticking up from each other. I can roll with this. this is good. No problems yet)))

SEAN COLT - ""Your majesty, by the traditions and laws of this kingdom, if we allowed this Pony to be intimidated and terrorized due to his past, we would be just as guilty as those who committed the original crimes.

My brother was interfering, which was the right thing to do legally, ethically, and morally. No matter who he was standing up against.

We won't allow *anyone* to terrorize an innocent pony."(( alright more interpersonal relationships within the team are forming. Now we have two players sticking up for a third. I'm fine with all this I can roll with it. The only thing a little sketchy at this point is the outburst by Dam Colt))

(( this next post is where things slide from okay we can work with this to what the actual heck!!))

STEW - "Slewfoot will try to use suppress fear on himself, then slowly touches the colt bros and use suppress fear on both of them.when Slewfoot gets close any pony can scars across his back some shallow some deep.most will make any pony gasp."(( there are no scars in his character description. He is fully clothed in a roomful of royalty and strangers. how is anyone going to see his scars?))

STEW - "As Slewfoot touches the Colts dam notices that Slewfoot is missing his right pinkie finger. Slewfoot slurs I am sorry if my hideous sight offends anyone. I will leave now. And Slewfoot moves toward the exit.(( more huh???! Now all of a sudden he is missing a finger and just decides to get up and leave the room. Didn't ask the queen if she was finished speaking to him and she certainly did not dismiss him.))

GM - (((( how will they notice scars on your back? Did you take your shirt off? Why are you leaving??))))

Sean - "Slewfoot the only thing I find hideous about your appearance is that anyone would treat another in this way.

I mean, come on.. just look at ME!!" ((Sean has a demonic visage))

Stew - "before administering his suppress fear on the Colts Slewfoot will remove his shirt revealing the massive scarring then turning toward torrent. You have given me a rare treat in even talking to me . Slewfoot stops in front of torrent and touches his horn to torrents forehead feel a tiny portion of what was done. Slewfoots eyes blaze a glowing yellow briefly then he dons his shirt and walks his shambling gaite toward the nearest exit .saying your daughter is heading east then his eyes return to their steel grey color. "limited omniscience" uncontrollable."

(( and here dear reader is where player Stew managed to yank what was a finely running game right off the tracks. A major plot point is to try to find the missing princess. There has been no investigation and no knowledge given out among players, but Stew decides to deus ex machina the location of the missing princess by citing limited omniscience that is uncontrollable as his means of distilling this impossible knowledge.))) * Fyi omniscience, limited or otherwise, is not listed among one of the psionic abilities of the Psy druid which is Stew's character class.

Dam - ""Please Slewfoot, do not leave us, I think you may have valuable insight into the disappearance of fillies." ((alright right it looks like one of the other players is trying to Corral him in game and keep him from doing something stupid))

Stew - "as Slewfoot is walking toward the nearest exit he notices a small foals toy top. He picks it up and turns toward the queen and silently hands it to her. Slewfoot says .the future is not set in stone but we must leave now."(( they are meeting in a diplomatic Council chamber! There would be no children's toys laying around. The youngest child in the castle, the missing princess, is 13 at the time. Quite a bit too old to be playing with tops and leaving her toys scattered in important rooms of the castle. And this nonsense about the future not being set but we must leave now! He is making that up as he goes along. That's his post word for word with no GM consultation. He didn't even mention it to me that he wants to try this and see what happens))

Sunny - "Sunshine says,"Every pony how about we all take a nice deep happy breath. Hold, and release"*she proceeds to do this*"I think we're all confused, or just me. Mr's Slewfoot and Colts, the Queen and her servants don't mean any bad things to Mr Slewfoot or anyone other than these Buck brothers. I really don't like going to the Doctors but Doctor Saw bones is a wonderful caring pony who helps everypony he can, even stubborn haybrains like me. The Queen doesn't mean anything meany either. Every pony says I'm the dumbest Unicorn ever foaled, but over the last ten years they've treated me with kindness."

(( so how do I fix this?! ))

_________________Look upon me and tremble ye masses. For I am The Necroposter!

keir451 wrote:

Amazing Nate; Thanks for your support!

Razzinold wrote:

And the award for best witty retort to someone reporting a minor vehicular collision goes to:The Oh So Amazing Nate!

Nate, you sir win the internet for today! You've definitely earned the "oh so amazing" part of your name today.

While I chose give the player one more chance, I'm also going to point out that you fix it it by being a GM and pointing out that what he said happened didn't happen, because you don't get to add in powers just because. Also, even if he DID have uncontrollable limited omniscience, then clearly the player can't control that, and thus wouldn't have happened anyways.

_________________

Axelmania wrote:

You of course, being the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not.

Declared the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not by Axelmania on 5.11.19.

So after calmly discussing the situation with Stew the situation has been resolved. It turns out he "was trying to help" by "getting the group to do what you want and move on to the next step." He didn't realize he was doing anything wrong by effectively meta-gaming. I explained to him that there wasn't a next step to move the party on to yet because I hadn't revealed it, and that it was my job as GM to move the story along/get the players to engage not his. I offered him the chance to stay and we'd replay his interaction with the Queen. I also offered him the chance to leave the game because I can't keep dealing with these disruptions. Either way there would be no hard feelings and we'd still be friends. Stew thanked me for allowing him to play and for entertaining him, but if his actions were seen as disruptive then he should probably just leave the game.

Stew's character has been politely written out of the game. What was once 6 players is now down to 4. This should be slightly easier to manage.

Thanks to dreicunan who responded.

_________________Look upon me and tremble ye masses. For I am The Necroposter!

keir451 wrote:

Amazing Nate; Thanks for your support!

Razzinold wrote:

And the award for best witty retort to someone reporting a minor vehicular collision goes to:The Oh So Amazing Nate!

Nate, you sir win the internet for today! You've definitely earned the "oh so amazing" part of your name today.

I think it is up to the other players to remedy the problem. Also, try to ask stew only simple questions, leaving the more crucial to a more serious player. But, key, dont let the game stop.

Gm just needs to remain unbiased and unmoved by any action or thing a player wants to do or say. I think the queen would stop talking to stew though, seeking intelligence somewhere else - maybe even deeming stew dangerously unsound.

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